“Great Shoes!” Behind the Scenes of the Albany Institute of History and Art’s Two Upcoming Shoe Exhibits

Ebullient, Courtesy of the artist, Marina Dempster, from The Perfect Fit

Red Riding Shoes-Albany, NY 1856-from the Old Soles Exhibit

Founded in 1791, the Albany Institute of History and Art (AIHA ) is older than the Louvre in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and the Smithsonian in Washington, DC. So it’s no surprise that this museum has the background and knowledge to coordinate not one, but two, fascinating companion shows.

And what better subject to focus on than woman’s best friend-shoes? Coming in October are The Perfect Fit—Shoes Tell Stories, an exhibition that explores the cultural meanings of shoes, presenting imaginative objects of every size and craft medium, and Old Soles, a small companion exhibit that will display three centuries of shoes from AIHA’s permanent collection.

“There are three types of museum exhibitions”, explained Tammis Groft, the AIHA’s Deputy Director for Collections and Exhibitions : Long-termexhibitions which highlight the collections owned by the museum; Changing exhibitions which are developed in-house over years and which borrow largely from the collections owned by the museum; and Traveling exhibitions which are also known as “canned” or “collections in a box” because they have been fully prepared by another source that then rents it out to the museum.

The Perfect Fit, which consists of approximately 120 objects from over 100 artists from all over the United States plus Canada and Israel, is a traveling exhibition.

Super7Hot! Photo by Erik Gould

After the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, Massachussets found great success with this exhibit, it decided to create a package to rent to other museums. All of the ingredients needed to make a well received show were combined including promotional information, labeling materials, and, of course, the art objects themselves.

The AIHA has been preparing for some time for the arrival of these pieces. For a variety of reasons, Tammis needs a short turn around from when the shipments arrive and when the collection is fully installed.

So time is of the essence and Tammis is working diligently with the museum’s exhibits designer, Thomas Nelson, to produce the show. Before delivery, Thomas needs to prepare a detailed, computer generated layout of where each piece will go. He’s had experience making other such diagrams including the one needed for the Hudson River Panorama exhibition.

Previous Exhibition Layout

So what happens when these precious packages arrive? Museum shipment crates vary in material. Wooden crates may be used to move things domestically, but a crate of particle board-like material must be used to ship items overseas.

Couriers, representatives of the renting entity, often travel with these shipments to help set up these pieces. While at their destination, the couriers are housed and fed by the hosting museum. It seems like an interesting job because you may travel to different parts of the world with these collections. In fact, Tammis has enjoyed doing this herself.

The crates for the Perfect Fit will be brought into the museum and allowed to rest for 24 hours so that they can acclimate to their environment.

After the 24 hours are up, the crates will go upstairs to the gallery. Tammis and her team will then check the condition of each of the items in the crates. Each object will be carefully pulled out with white gloved hands and inspected in order to complete a condition report.

Chopine and Puddles Photo by Gary Pollmiller

The items will then be installed where they are designed to go according to Thomas’ layout. Next, the information panels and labels will be placed around the art work. And then, lastly, lighting will be arranged to shine just the right way on each piece of the collection.

I can hardly wait.

NEXT: AIHA’s companion Old Soles exhibit and a visit to AIHA’s warehouse of treasures.